Glimpses of our year, in pictures
This is an interactive tour. The bold hyperlinks will take you to the full stories
We started the year with a trip round the Peninsula
stopping at Kalky's, our favourite "chippie" in Kalk Bay harbour
for some of the best fish and chips in the Cape
Two freshly caught red snapper fish (Lutjanus agennes), one of which became our supper
We had it cleaned and the head removed. Not an easy fish to cook as it is very bony, but the flavour was good
Lynne cooked it stuffed with lemon and thyme and roasted briefly in foil
White foam as the blue water of Hout Bay hits the rocks below Chapman's Peak
Heat mist coming into Hout Bay from the cold Atlantic, masking the Sentinel mountain at the entrance to the bay
A wine tour with the van der Endes from the Netherlands
The first of our special wine events of the year,
The Elgin Chardonnay Colloquium, with a chance to taste some of Elgin's great chardonnays with some from France, Australia and California
A fantastic way to spend a Sunday evening
An opera concert with the Cape Philharmonic and Cape Town Opera in Kirstenbosch
Take a picnic supper; enjoy the music with a good wine and the beauty around you
On another Sunday
Schubert chamber music in the Dutch Reformed Church in Franschhoek
and then the musical highlight of the year
The heavens opened up but they gave us all ponchos
The rain stopped. The music and the fun continued
And then a special 70th birthday concert for our friend, composer Péter Louis van Dijk in the Endler Hall, Stellenbosch
conducted by his elder son Xandi with arrangements by his younger son Matthijs
A very special evening
An Asian fusion dinner at Silk restaurant in Heritage Square
We went back and will return
Thomas, with us since 2009, became very old and ill and left to join the choirs invisibule (to quote Monty Python)
Our constant companion, Rory
He has become much more affectionate since his friend Thomas died
Lynne is not a fan of monarchy
but, being British, loves the pomp and ceremony
so she dressed up for the Coronation
and served up Coronation chicken for lunch with a good bubbly
watched by a Viking
On our way home from a wine event,
a sunset through the mist as we drove round Lion's Head
In the Spring, off to see the flowers and drove up to Clanwilliam with our friends Judi and Loraine
The view of the valley from the Piekenierskloof Pass
It is usually quite brown, but this has been a wet year
Clanwilliam wild flowers
with a special exhibit of Cape Fynbos in the very traditional Clanwilliam Harvest church
A malachite sunbird on wild dagga in the Ramskop Wild Flower Carden
The Cederberg Pass between Clanwilliam and Cederberg
A mountain drive with some scary (to Lynne) unprotected roadside drops
A great smiling greeting and hugs for Lynne and for John from cellarmaster David Nieuwoudt who has been asking us to visit for about 20 years
Cederberg wine estate's original farmhouse
our home for the visit
A simple, but well-appointed, interior
with a patio where you can relax on summer evenings
En route home, we stopped for lunch at Groote Post, near Darling
and saw the best wildflower display of the weekend
The Veritas Awards dinner
The first "black tie" event we'd been to since the start of Covid
A glittering evening with amazingly good food and excellent wines
Lunch at Kalky's with Angela
and at Jordan wine estate in Stellenbosch with lunch at Marthinus Ferreira's restaurant
Another lunch, this time at Bientang's Cave in Hermanus with very good food
while we watched the whales in Walker Bay
Moraines down the slopes of the Babilonstoren mountain - washaways caused by the torrential rain in September
and the gardens and ponds which were such a delight scoured away by the Onrus River
But there are still patches of undestroyed beauty
a wonderful lunch at Creation
John's cousin Denver Duncan and his wife Gill had a joint 80th birthday celebration with family and friends
A family portrait of them with their children Mollie, Diedre and Greg
The beauty of the Western Cape showcased at an open garden day at Tokara in Stellenbosch's Banhoek valley
and in Elgin the same weekend
Then the 78th birthday weekend in Bryanston, Gauteng
Stephanie and Lynne enjoying tea and a chat on the verandah
with Tosca the Great Dane and Redro the chocolate Labrador
A special dinner party for John's birthday with a special treat, a 1963 Borges Ruby Port
Bill took us for a very good Italian lunch at The Italian Job food emporium in Bryanston
A wonderful chance to catch up with old friends Charles and Meave Potter
An informal family portrait with children and grandchildren
Olivia, Victoria, Candy, Richard
Tosca, Stephanie, James, William, Redro
Tosca helped Lynne with her crossword
At home, the vegetable garden, growing well
and the flowers on the deck
Enjoy the last days of this year with your friends and family
and have a happy and successful 2024
and have a happy and successful 2024
All images in this post are ©John Duncan Ford, Adamastor and Bacchus
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